File-binder.



No. 860,642. -PATENTED JULY 23, 1907.

J. G. DAWSON.

FILE BINDER.

APPLICATION FILED N0v..15. 190e.

ks co., wnumarnu u c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES C. DAWSON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO SIEBER & TRUSSELL MNFG. OO., A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

FILE-BINDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1907.

Application filed November 15, 1906. Serial No. 343,607.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES C. DAWSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in File-Binders, of which the following is a specication, and which are illustrated in tho accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention relates to loose leaf binders of that type in which filing rods are mounted upon a base, and a follower is applied to the filing rods above the leaves to be bound, and is fixed against movement in one direction on the rods for the purpose of securing the bound leaves in position.

More-particularly, the invention relates to binders of this form in which slotted apertures or notches are provided in the follower member of the binder for receiving the filing rods, in order that this member may be applied to or removed from the rods without threading it over theirends.

The object of the invention is to provide improved means for clamping the follower to the rods to prevent it from being removed from the rods by a twisting strain, as when the file is inadvertently allowed to drop to the floor.

A flu-ther object of the invention is to provide a follower for file binders having wide open notches or slotted apertures for receiving the rods of the file and clutching mechanism for firmly engaging the rods.

The invention is exemplified in the structure to be hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichy Figure l is a plan view of a file binder constructed in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a detail plan view drawn to an enlarged scale.

The base and follower members of a file binder are designated 10 and 11, respectively, in the drawings, and preferably take the form of book covers, each having a exible or hinged portion 12 adjacent one of its shorter sides or binding edge 13 to facilitate the opening of the file. Filing rods 14, v15, are rigidly secured to the base member 10 adjacent the edge 13, and the corresponding edge of the follower member 11 is notched or slotted, as indicated at 16, 17, to receive the filing rods. Preferably the notches 16, 17, are made flaring by curving their side walls 18, 19, the fitting of the follower member 11 to the second one of the filing rods 14, 15, in applying it to the binder being most easily effected if the inner wall 18 of each notch is curved to an arc of which the other of the filing rods is the center, as shown.

Clutching mechanism is carried by the follower member 11 for gripping the iling rods 14, 15, to prevent upward movement of the follower thereon. As shown this mechanism comprises a supporting plate 20, firmly secured to the upper face of the follower, as by means of screws 21, 22, and a jaw 23, pivotally mounted on the plate and playing over each of the notches 16, 17. Each of the jaws 23 has a bifurcated or notched outer end 24 for engaging one ofthe filing rods, and is so disposed upon the plate 20 that upward pressure on the follower member causes the filing rod to bind between the inner portion of the notched end of the jaw and a side wall of one of the notches 16, 17 A spring 25 is provided for depressing each of the jaws upon the filing rods and, as shown, is of leaf form and reacts upwardly upon a heel 26 formed on the jaw adjacent its pivot. Thumb pieces 27 are formed on the jaws for opening the clutch.

File binders of this type, when filled with leaves, frequently attain great weight. If inadvertently dropped to the floor the follower member may have imparted to it a twisting strain. If the notch in the gripping jaw be V-shaped it will not resist such twisting strain, which will be substantially parallel with the jaw edge, and hence the jaw is free to slide obliquely upward and the follower becomes disengaged.

I have found that the raising of the clutch jaws, when the follower member 11 is twisted upon the filing rods, may be prevented by extending the side walls of the notched end 24 of each jaw 23, as indicated at 28, 29, Fig. 3, the extended ends being then preferably turned inwardly, thus leaving the mouth of each notch substantially equal to the diameter of the rod, the inner edge of this extension of the jaw being oblique to the direction of the twisting strain referred to will resist it and securely hold the follower' in place. Preferably the inner portion of the notch 24 of each jaw has flaring side walls, as shown, to provide for a wedging grip upon the rod.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a filing rod, of a follower having an opening to receive the rod, and a clamping jaw pivotally mounted on the follower to swing over the opening in the plane of the rod and having a notch for engaging the rod, the normal gripping portion of the notch having flaring walls and one face of the notch being prolonged beyond such gripping portion and being without flare.

2. 'lhe combination with a filing rod, of a follower' having an opening to receive the rod, and a clamping jaw pivotally mounted on the follower to swing over the opening in the plane of the rod and having a notch for engaging the rod, the normal gripping portion of the notch having Haring walls and one face of the notch being prolonged beyond such gripping portion and being turned inwardly.

3. The combination with a filing rod, of a follower having a lateral notch for receiving the rod, and a clamping jaw pivotally mounted on the follower to swing over the notch in the plane of the rod and at an angle to the notch, the outer end of the jaw being notched, the inner portion of the lastnamed notch having aring walls for no1'- inally engaging the rod and that wall of the notch of the jaw adjacent the opening of the notch of the follower being extended and turned inwardly.

4. The combination with a filing rod, of a follower having a flaring lateral notch for receiving the rod, and a clamping jaw pivotally mounted on the follower to swing over thc notch in the plane of the rod and at an angle to the notch, the outer end of the jaw being notched, the inner portion of the last-named notch having flaring Walls for normally engaging the rod and that wall of the notch of the jaw adjacent the opening of the notch of the follower being extended and turned inwardly.

5. In a file binder, in combination, a base, a pair of filing rods mounted on the base, a follower having a llaring lateral notch for receiving each of the rods, and

a clamping jaw pivotally mounted on the follower to swing over each of the notches in the plane of the rod and at an angle to the notch, the inner portion of the lastnamed notch having Haring walls for normally engaging the rod and that Wall of the notch of each jaw adjacent the opening of the corresponding notch of the follower being extended and turned inwardly.

6. The combination with a filing rod, of a follower having a lateral notch for receiving the rod, and a clamping jaw pivotally mounted on the follower to swing over the notch in the plane of the rod and at an angle to the notch, the outer end of the jaw being notched, the base of the lastna1ned notch being adapted to normally engage the rod, and a side Wall of the notch of the clamping jaw being extended and turned inwardly.

JAMES C. DAWSON.

Witnesses Ro'r. H. CoNE, Jr., l. LAICHINGER. 

